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Thursday, July 3, 2008

We're camping with friends and there are 14 of us total. We've been noticing a strange phenomenon. A camper pulled up at the site adjacent to ours. The people got out of their RV, saw all of us, promptly got back in their vehicle and drove off.

Another camper pulled up, the folks got out, plugged their camper into the electrical outlet, then quickly disappeared inside, not to be seen again.

When we went to the pool this afternoon, within 15 minutes, the entire place was empty except for us. Not another soul in sight.

Do you think it has anything to do with the fact that we've got 10 kids running around like howler monkeys hopped up on caffeine and crack?

ME: Are you sure the kids can eat those? Where did you find them? How do you know what kind of berries they are?

JOE: They're boysenberries.

ME: Since when do you know what boysenberries are?

JOE: I just know.

ME: Oh give me a break. You just find some berries growing along the lake and you start eating them without knowing what they are?

JOE: I told you - they're mulberries!

ME: You said they were boysenberries! Now they're mulberries?

JOE: Yes, they're huckleberries.

ME: Admit that you're clueless.

JOE: I am not clueless. I'm an Eagle Scout!

ME: Do Eagle Scouts usually pour lighter fluid on the fire to get it going?

Yes, camping brings out the best in us.

Ooooo prettiful

Now I'm off to sit around the campfire with Andy and make some hot delicious schmoes!

Yes, you are a geek, but don't distress, that's an awesome description! You're like me! I took my laptop on my honeymoon and hubby didn't care. We took over 700 pictures and I uploaded them to the laptop every night. You take it camping!

Hope you are having fun. Just think, think of all the crickets and night critters you'll hear now that you have no neighbors making noises. It's a good thing, Dawn.

I've also heard them called gooseberries. I'm not sure which is correct, but here they are ripe on the trees around David's birthday. I remember, when David was a baby, the older kids and I picked a bunch and saved them so that 2 days later I could mash them into his frosting to make it a pretty color. I was so proud of my cleverness (none of that artificial food coloring for me, nope; I betcha the pioneers frosted their birthday cakes the exact same way, etc...) until I noticed miniscule worms (worms!) crawling around in the frosting bowl. This discovery would not have been quite so traumatic had there not been a spoonful of frosting in my mouth at the time.

I REALLY hope you guys have an wonderful camping excursion, but somehow, I think another blog-entry will be appearing soon: I am wondering just what variety of wildlife the kids will uncover(and then bring triumphantly to MOM)Helpful Hint: If it wriggles and makes RATTLING SOUNDS,,you might want to photograph it at a distance!Have Much Fun..and Be Safe!

Not sure what you call them in America, but in the UK, those berries are call (imaginatively!) blackberries, and they are completely safe to eat. We have them in pies, crumbles etc, and fresh with icecream or meringues.

They are a lovely autumn delicacy here - my wife picks thousands of them,stews them with apples, and freezes them for me to have throughout the winter.

I'm curious Dawn. What are schmoes? I'm wondering if that's what we call s'mores here in the east. Graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows?? Sounds like you're having a great vacation without being bothered by all those annoying OTHER people. Keep posting!! Chris in PA

I'm not sure what's funnier...the fact that your Eagle Scout husband doesn't know what kind of berries he found OR the fact that you are on the world wide web while camping! LOL Have a nice time! Happy 4th!Katie

See... I told you before... our big families DO scare people. I have the same thing happen to us all the time. The question that greets me often, "Are those ALL your kids?" "Yeah, but I left the other 10 at home." This always gets the best shock value.

Those berries look like blackberries. I buy them at the grocery store all the time.

Hi Dawn, I hope you are having a blast camping! Those berries look like blackberries. We use to have a berry tree growing up and my step dad would actually vacume them up off the ground. Now thats OCD. Take care, Kristine in Michigan.

Whether its a blackberry or a mulberry depends on the plant it grew on...blackberries grow on vines with thorns, mulberries grow on trees. If it has a stem when picked, it is a mulberry; no stem, blackberry.

You guys are either very brave or very crazy to go camping with a gazillion kids! Good for you! Hope you have a great 4th and a great weekend. Hope Joe's eye is OK, too. Metal shavings in one's eye sounds pretty serious. And s'mores -- YUM! I'm getting hungry! :-)

oh, blackberries, I do so miss berries. I used to take my kids berrying, they would get all deep purple black on their hands and faces and eat more berries than you can imagine, but oh yum. Give each kid their own bucket and set them loose in the blackberry patch, this is what childhood memories are made of.Tell Joe that mulberries grow on trees. The berries are ready to eat when they come off easily, otherwise they will be sour and hard.I love camping!regards,Theresa

how many people said they are blackberries? How many more people will say this? Hilarious. Gooseberries by the way are kind of see throughish - light green, one individual round berry, and the bush has nasty thorns and the berry will not taste nice as is. Just to add a bit of berrytrivia, blackberries are called brambles here in Scotland, and there are two species crossed with Raspberries which are called Tayberry and Loganberry. They look similar, and are even tastier. Nothing beats Loganberry Jam.You can get rid of the bugs (wee maggots) in the blackberries by putting them in the fridge, they'll crawl out because they're cold... Or just eat them for extra protein.Have been reading your blog for a good while, really enjoy it!

I'm sure you've been told, but those are wild blackberries. My mother used to make the most incredible blackberry pie and blackberry jelly in the world. Blackberry jelly instead of jam because she thought the seeds were too big and ruined the experience. I say used to because I was once picking berries, head down, because the best berries are down low, shade berries. I raised my head, and right in front of my face was a huge snake, the rest of it all coiled down into the bush. I backed out of there and I have never been back. I'm sure the snake was waiting for the birds that like to eat the berries. It certainly makes their poop an interesting color! You can consider yourself lucky that the kids found the berries rather than a snake. Clay might not realize that snakes are not necessarily friends.

The "schmoes" comment comes from Toy Story 2- Woody wants to go to cowboy camp, he can't find his hat and Buzz is trying to convince him that he will be going and how great it will be when they are roasting hot delicious schmoes... "That's Smores, Buzz!"

Hi again Dawn, I am just curious if the masquito's < ( bad speller here) are really biting you all this year? They are terrible here in Michigan. I was told the bats are dying of some disese and therfore not eating them. Hope your all having a great time and get home safely too. Kristine in Michigan.

Lol I remeber going camping when I was a kid we pnly had two in our family but always went camping with a family of 5 kids and the amount of times we ate strange berries that were growing in the bush, luckily no-one ever got sick though lol. We went out with two other families the other night after gymnastics to get some hot chips and they have three kids each and I think we may have turned them off ever having more children lol. My hubby is looking for a tent that will hold us all so we can go campingPlease tell me what actually is a smore? what is in them?Here we just toast marshmallows on sticks lol

Mulberries tend to be smaller and grow on trees, but blackberries look like purple-black raspberries and grow on thorny vines or bramble bushes. I know because I picked 100's of gallons of those as a kid.

Just to add my opinion of the berries- blackberries grow on thorny bushesmulberrys (which taste REALLY similar to blackberries) grow on treesboysenberries- ummm...grow on something and are a hybrid of the raspberry and blackberry.

And..

I just wanted to thank you for you taking time to write to all of us out here. As a SAHM to 3 medically fragile/special needs children, i dont get out much. Your writing is not only entertaining for me, but gives me a much needed 'time out'. Thanks!

We are on the same wavelength! We just bought a house with a tree that has those same berries on it! I was asking everyone I knew if they knew what kind of berries they were. They assured me it was a mulberry tree. Funny, I've heard the song about a mulberry bush, but never a tree! Anyways, friends warned us about bugs hiding inside the berries and the terrible stain from the juice, of course after we had eaten a few, and my daughter had wiped her hands on her shirt. I also bumped some onto the seat of the riding lawn mower and got a nasty stain on my shorts! So BEWARE!

If they were on a tree they are mulberries if they were on a throny bush they are blackberries. Thats the only differnts. I didn't know that until my boyfriend found out and told me. I kept argue that it was blackberries even though I never seen blackberries on a tree before but mulberries do look like blackberries. Taste the same to me too

I know I'm way late on weighing on this one but the berries are blackberries. I have them growing wild in my yard. you can also find them in the produce section of your local grocery store at this time of year.

Joe, I think the scouts just kicked you out. Between not know the berries and getting metal shavings in your eye (heard of goggles?), yep, you're a goner!